JJK2008

47 minutes ago, Pushka said:

I said exactly this on a different forum here and lit a fire. 😂. I call it a bribe. 

Yes, it is a very volatile topic for sure. IMHO people can do whatever they choose, tip, don't tip, round-up, whatever. It's their choice. We certainly will tip when we believe it is deserved. What I find offensive are the ones who ask the questions about tipping and will continue to press the issue when they don't get the answer they want. If you want to tip, then tip. If you don't want to tip then don't. You don't need a "justification" to do it or not and then forcefully engage the people who answer you in the way you disagree with. I think that attitude falls right in-line with the mindset of those who go to a Non-Tipping country, know the country's protocol but will still force their opinion/action onto the society there by ignoring the protocol because they know "it's the right thing to do." That arrogance is blinding IMHO. 

Sorry for the venting. No more tipping talk. 

John  

I'm not an expert on the subject by any means and there are a number of "explanations" and "theories" on how tipping began in America. Some claim it was brought to the states from England as a part of Aristocratic society. The "well to do" giving a "tip" to low-end employees as a small gesture of gratitude. Is this accurate??? I don't know. But at some point (I think in the 1960's) the Federal Govt., passed a law allowing employers to pay less than the minimum wage to certain employees who received tips. This primarily was waitstaff, bartenders, etc. This was NOT porters, taxi drivers, tour guides, bus drivers and many other service workers who receive a regular wage. These workers get paid a regular wage (YES, even here in the US) to do their job. The tipping culture has now morphed into something that is no longer a show of appreciation but rather an obligation. It has gotten so bad in the US that people now will tip for good service, bad service, it doesn't matter. There are also some claims of outright "extortion" for example where porters at the airport or cruise terminal will "require" a tip or your luggage may go where??????????? Are these claims accurate??? I don't know but they are widely circulated. Speaking for myself, we never use porters at the airport or cruise terminal, we bring our luggage on ourselves or at the airport will check luggage at the counter. I am NOT against tipping or trying to be "cheap" (I've been accused of being cheap) when NOT tipping. But I am NOT going to just hand over extra money because it is expected. THAT is NOT a tip!!! To each their own, of course. I will NEVER tell some to tip or not to tip. But I do have an opinion as to what they do or don't do. Unfortunately, there are a large number of people (many here on CC) who will express their opinion on the subject in a very forceful way, I'm sure you have all read them. It is a very hostile topic. I wish the whole topic would just go away. Stay safe & Healthy all. Happy cruising. 

John             

14 hours ago, Kristelle said:

JJK2008, thank you. I have often thought the same.

Encouraging people to tip starts the slippery slope to expected tipping.

Life in general, not specific to cruise ships

 

At most, if anything - round up taxis and pizza deliveries to nearest round number - ie $47:50 - make it $50. Keep the change sort of thing.

 

and if somebody really does exceptional service, not just does their usual job - publicly say so - on Trip advisor,their Facebook page, write letter to their management,send flowers to their workplace etc

 

 

 

 

Kristelle, Thank You for your reply, I agree with you. I'm an American and am looking at this from an American point of view. Even something as simple as telling some people that they can round up or keep the change for service, just opens the door for what they WANT to do anyway. That is why I suggest just saying NO - PERIOD without giving any exceptions. With the tipping mindset, even the slightest indication that it is OK to tip (no matter how innocent that suggestion may be) just opens the door for what they are going to do anyway. It allows them to justify to themselves that their actions are OK. As you mentioned "rewarding" someone for exceptional service comes in different forms, NOT just giving them money. In fact, in my experience writing positive letters, public postings, etc., are far more beneficial than money, as they can affect a person's career or job situation for years. Made my first trip to Oz and NZ last year. My DW and I have a number of friends in Oz (from past cruises) and we got a chance to meet up and visit with them. It truly was a wonderful trip. God willing, we want to go back sooner rather than later. The years are ticking by, and we have far more yesterdays than tomorrows left. Stay safe & Healthy.

John   

12 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

Yesterday actually, US time and date I presume.

Happy Birthday Mic. Wishing you many more cruises ahead.  

Just a suggestion to the Aussies and Kiwis, when an American questions about tipping PLEASE DO NOT tell them that a small tip is OK for "exceptional" service. This just opens the door for them and gives them the excuse they are looking for. The term "exceptional" is subjective. Just advise them NO TIPPING under ANY circumstance - PERIOD. This will NOT stop all of them from doing it as some WANT to do it no matter what. But don't give them the excuse they are looking for. Example: an American will feel a taxi driver who takes luggage out of the trunk is "going above and beyond" his/her job and as such "deserves" a tip. When in reality that IS part of their job. The tipping culture is so out of control in the US. People in the US now tip automatically. Good service Bad service, it doesn't matter. Tipping is an American custom that is NOT practiced in most of the world. Sadly, far too many Americans will NOT adhere to the customs of the countries they visit even though they claim they want to. The arrogance and disrespect just frosts me.   

On 5/2/2024 at 2:32 AM, MicCanberra said:

Due to my surgery, we had to cancel a few trips, but none of them were domestic cruises.

Hey Mic, how is your recovery going??? Hopefully well. I know it put you out of commission for a while. You'll come back stronger and ready to go. I can relate, I'm having surgery Friday. This will be the second one since December. I'm saying my prayers on this one. We'll see how things turn out and I'll be back as well. Stay Safe & Healthy. 

John

12 hours ago, cruiseequalsfun said:

@JJK2008 - Hello.  If you didn't mind posting an overview of your cruise on the main Royal Caribbean board that would be great.  There is little to no information / reviews of Enchantment.  We will be sailing her in June and yes I know it is an older ship without all the amenities, but wanted to know in general your review of it, especially recent trips out of Tampa - the ship, what you did in ports, the food, and how the tender situation was in Belize!  Thanks in advance if you can do a short review!

Hey Melissa, per your request I did a quick review and posted on the RCCL board. Hope this helps. Safe travels, enjoy your cruise.  Enchantment of the Seas April 27, 2024 - REQUESTED REVIEW, 

We just got off Enchantment of the Seas and received a request to review the ship and ports. I'll keep it as short as possible but there is a lot to cover, and I'll focus on the major points. The ship is certainly older and doesn't have the bells and whistles. But it was clean, staff and food were excellent. Age demographics was a wide range from 20's - 80's. Unlike other cruises it was a very equally mixed group. It was a very good cruise experience. Left out of Tampa, very easy. We live in Florida so drove to the port and parked in the garage. If you are able to this is the most convenient option. You can prepurchase your parking on-line. This will insure a parking spot on busy port days. The Port website has the cruise ship schedule so you can see where your ship will be docked and what garage to use. We arrived early and breezed right through. Check-in was done with hand-held tablets by multiple RCCL staff. Total time from parking the car, walking to the terminal, check-in to on the ship was 15 minutes maybe less. Did muster station immediately then off to the Windjammer for lunch. Cabins were ready promptly at 1:00. Entertainment on the ship was good overall. The only negative was a lot of "downtime" in many of the venues. Example, in the Schooner Bar there were times where there was an hour between anything going on, same thing on the pool deck. The Viking Crown Lounge was virtually empty until the late-night DJ. Not that there needs to be constant entertainment, but there was a certain "Lull" to the atmosphere on the ship. The Centrum (middle of the ship) extends up the height of the ship. Would NOT suggest cabins anywhere close to it. The noise level from music, etc., was LOUD and travelled to all the floors in the immediate area. Although the cruise was sold out, the ship never felt crowded. Always empty seats in the MDR, Windjammer and on the pool deck. As an older ship it doesn't seem to have the stabilizers of the newer ships. As such, the ship movement was very noticeable, and we were not in rough seas. Now, it was NOT rocking and rolling by any means but for those concerned about motion sickness it may be worth bringing along medication. We had been to all these ports before. But we did book shore excursions but were not expecting much. We were pleasantly surprised. All, our excursions turned out VERY good. Cozumel, we did an excursion through the ship. Many ships in port and crowded. But the RCCL excursions were well organized, well-run, brand-new luxury coaches with bathroom on board. First stop, was a Honey/Bee Sanctuary. Very interesting, stingless bees that produce a small amount of honey compared to honeybees and with a very different taste. Next was a chocolate factory (can never go wrong with chocolate). Then was a Tequila tasting. Learned a lot and dispelled some myths about Tequila. Roatan, we did a Private tour through Victor Bodden. This company is highly rated, and we conquer. The Private Tour was $80 USD for two of us in a private van with guide. You customized the tour to your liking. Start time, end time and what you do are all at your discretion. Yes, they have suggested options to pick from. The $80 USD for two covers just the tour guide and transportation. We did an overall sightseeing tour of the island with beach and shopping stops. Went to an Iguana Farm for a tour. This cost $12 USD each. Next, we did the sloth/monkey/toucan exhibit. Cost $10 USD. Belize, we stayed on the ship. We've done the beach there and the caved tubing before. There is no port in Belize because of the Barrier Reef, too shallow. This is a tender stop with at least 30 minutes each way. Belize is building a "Port" stop offshore near the tender stops. It is called Port Coral. It is not open and still looks like a lot of work left to be done. A number of stories on-line about it. Costa Maya, we did an RCCL boat excursion to the 7 color Lagoon. This was better than we ever anticipated. Great boat ride and the "Lagoon" is really a LARGE freshwater lake and YES, the colors are brilliant. The water is as clear as a swimming pool, warm with sugar-white sand in the swimming areas, no water shoes needed. This is NOT a snorkeling sight, nothing to see. A buffet lunch was very good. Debarkation was a breeze. Like many of the ports, Tampa uses facial recognition. We carry our own bags off, so zipped right through. Hope this information is helpful. Stay Safe & Health all. Enjoy all of your cruises.           

John

19 minutes ago, Bluewake said:

We are booked for My Time Dining on an upcoming Royal cruise.  Unfortunately, I was busy doing other things and forgot to make dinner reservations. By the time I realized it, the only times available to reserve were much later than we'd prefer.  With My Time, is it possible to simply show up when the dining room opens and wait for a table or must one have a reservation for a specific time?  I called RCCL with this question and was told that it's possible the dining room would not be able to accommodate "walk-ins" if there have been too many reservations.  Any suggestions would be appreciated.

It is on a first come first served basis. We just did exactly that. The main seating was at 5:30. We would arrive before that and put our name in. At 5:45 they would then start seating in the dining room to replace the "no-shows" We had a party of 6 and got seated together every night. It is on an availability basis. We would have gotten seating every night no problem, but not necessarily all together, we were lucky.      

Just got off Enchantment of the Seas and anchored near Port Coral Belize. It is not open and looks like lots of work left to be done. 

Carnival does the same thing, perhaps others as well. 

Both RCI and X have been having problems for weeks. Frustrating!!!

12 hours ago, hammo said:

Just some advice please ,

We are Aussie sailors and given the poor state of our $ and wanting to cruise a Japan itinerary , we will most likely book and inside cabin . The itineraries are heavily port intensive so economics will win out and  we will spend more time off ship and up on deck early and late to compenstae .

We are looking at the August 18 cruise 2025 following our Thailand , Vietnam cruise in January and see many comments about the August heat - - we travel in Asia and Indonesia often and are used to the humidity and wondering if this will be the same in Japan in August .

Also a question re the two itineraries , there is an earlier sail that is slightly different ,sailing further north - any preference from those who have done both ? Thanks 

We recently booked the Millenium cruise for August 18, 2025. I have never been to Japan, but my DW has many years ago. It is a long way off, but we too are starting to plan. I have also started a roll call for that cruise but don't expect much activity yet. There is lots of info out there here on CC as well as other sites to sift through. I've read every post on this thread and have already found a wealth of information. If you have not done so, I'd suggest doing the same, you may get the answers you're looking for. We have many Aussie friends scattered along the east coast. We visited Oz last October and November for 7 weeks. I truly hope we get a chance to visit again. It was a wonderful trip. Hope you decide to book the cruise. Stay Safe & Healthy. Cheers.    

2 minutes ago, lovesthebeach2 said:

We both got locked out of our accounts like so many others and I created a new password on April 12. All was good until today when it said my password is wrong.  I tried all the tricks I did last time, but it still says it’s wrong.
Is anyone else having this issue.  I guess I have to start all over again and create a new password, then I’ll get locked out of the app again.

This is very frustrating.

It has been happening for weeks on both RCI & X. 

DW and I had a similar experience years ago on Royal Caribbean. Agree the medical staff was excellent. Glad you're feeling better. 

In years past, many of the cruise lines had really nice pool towels with embroided logos on them. Of course, many of them disappeared. Hence, today we have cheap towels and a charge if you don't return them. 

13 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

Well, due to the surgeon saying recovery will take longer than a few months, we have bit the bullet and cancelled our trip to Europe and the cruise around France. We have also postponed our Cape York trip till next year.

 

New target. 176.

Sorry to hear that Mic. Get well soon. Try to have patience and heal. Easier said than done of course. Stay positive.   

Water levels problems occur when water is too high or too low. Mid-summer is right in the middle of the winter snow runoff so we guessed it would be a better chance of being not too high or low. But this is just a guess. We did it mid-June and were fine with the water levels and the days were the longest giving lots of daylight. Great cruise. Enjoy it. 

4 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

Cheers, the operation went well as far as I know. Now recovery time it's been 1 day and I'm already restless.

Get well soon Mic. I can relate. I'm barely over surgery from Mid-December and I have another one scheduled for May10th. Just want to get them over with. Wishing you a speedy recovery BUT a healthy one and that takes a bit of time. Want you back on-track for that next cruise and the one after that and the one after that......

5 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

Surgery tomorrow on my achilles. After seeing the surgeon, I will now be out of action for the next 3-4 months. This is very depressing as we were expecting a 8 -10 weeks recovery. We have just cancelled our trip to Europe in June and will be postponing our Cape York trip in July to next year.

WOW....that just Sucks!!! So sorry. Hope your surgery goes well. Wishing you a speedy recovery. 

24 minutes ago, bclay said:

We will be taking our first Viking River Cruise in September, sailing the Rhine.   I have a few questions about embarkation day.   What time does boarding typically start?   Are cabins available upon boarding?  Is lunch served on Day 1?  And do people then come and go throughout the day, being back on ship for dinner, but then free to head back into town (Amsterdam in our case) for the late evening if we want?  Thanks in advance for any responses!  

 

 

Unlike an ocean cruise you can board pretty early in the morning 10:00ish. With only 180 guests there are no "lines" to worry about. You just walk on and check in. Cabin should be available as soon as you board. Yes, lunch is served day 1 and yes you can come and go freely. Viking usually has a walking tour even on day 1 that you can participate in or go on your own. River cruising is way more relaxed and less structured than an ocean cruise. Enjoy your cruise. 

On 10/3/2023 at 8:55 AM, ALD18 said:

Find it intriguing to hear the various scenarios other use.  Our process is sort of a hybrid of all of it.  I think we are going to continue "doing it ourselves" instead of employing a TA.  I actually went in and "interviewed" an agent the other day with the "we find everything and you book it for us" and she answered all the questions ok, except the $113 per person per booking part.  I questioned that since we had done ALL the legwork in the research field if those fees could/would be waived and she said no.  Asked if she/they had 24/7 phone support in the event of issues and she said no to that too.  Only support was 9:00-17:00 EST time in Canada on weekdays.  We have an issue outside of that we were on our own until that time frame opened up.  I think we are going to continue on our own, but start leaning more on the actual cruise line contacts we have established.  They have always been helpful and respond quickly to questions we have.  Guess we may give up some "perks" that TA may provide, but $226 per booking for a $10-100 perk doesn't work for us.  Thanks to all for your experiences and advise, appreciate it. 

Couldn't agree more. There are many here on CC who swear by using a TA. In our years of travel, 99% of the time we do all our own bookings directly with the cruise line, airline, hotel, etc. Many don't realize that if you book through a TA, the TA is the customer of the cruise line. You as the passenger are a customer of the TA. If an issue arises (which they often do) the cruise line will not even talk to you. You MUST go through the TA since the TA is the customer NOT you. This has come as a shock to many who have become agitated when a problem arises, and the cruise line won't even talk to them. While I'm sure there are many really good TA's out there, not all are created equal. For us it is a personal choice to book direct. We like the personal touch. This is not for everyone. To each their own.   

2 minutes ago, Jeafl said:

Granted they are 2 different countries, but they share the same small island.  It's not a stretch to imagine that some of these inmates may make their way over to the Dominican Republic.

 

Here's a link to the story: https://www.foxnews.com/world/armed-gangs-jailbreak-4000-inmates-haiti-days-long-gun-battle-police

There are a few different threads here on CC with varied opinions about the prison break and how it may affect Laberdee. Amber Cove is in the DR. But given the volatility on those islands, I'm guessing the cruise lines are keeping a close watch. All it would take is some small incident and those locations would become a ghost town for a long time.  

RCI has invested a lot of money on Laberdee. I'm certain RCI is monitoring things intensely. It is a roll of the dice. One incident, even a small one and Laberdee could become a ghost town for a long time.  

If I remember correctly, MTD starts at 5:15. They hold tables until that time then start giving them away.